Table 2.
Clinical and demographic characteristics of cancer patients enrolled with telephone follow-up (whole sample and grouped by presence of long COVID).
| Variable | Whole Sample (n = 97) | Long COVID Group (n = 12, 12.4%) | No Long COVID Group (n = 85, 87.6%) | p Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age [years], median (IQR) | 63 (16) | 58 (16) | 63 (16) | 0.290 |
| Sex, n (%) | 0.024 | |||
| Females | 58 (60%) | 11 (91.7%) | 47 (55.3%) | |
| Males | 39 (40%) | 1 (8.3%) | 38 (44.7%) | |
| Type of tumor, n (%) | 0.076 | |||
| Lung | 25 (25.8%) | 2 (16.7%) | 23 (27.1%) | |
| Melanoma | 8 (8.2%) | 1 (8.3%) | 7 (8.2%) | |
| Breast | 29 (29.9%) | 8 (66.7%) | 21 (24.7%) | |
| Kidney | 4 (4.2%) | 0 | 4 (4.7%) | |
| Gastrointestinal | 23 (23.7%) | 0 | 23 (27.1%) | |
| Other | 8 (8.2%) | 1 (8.3%) | 7 (8.2%) | |
| Stage of tumor, n (%) | 0.274 | |||
| II/III | 24 (24.8%) | 5 (41.7%) | 19 (22.3%) | |
| IV | 73 (75.2%) | 7 (58.3%) | 66 (77.7%) | |
| Type of oncological treatment, n (%) | 0.475 | |||
| ICIs | 27 (27.8%) | 2 (16.7%) | 25 (29.4%) | |
| Chemotherapy ** | 49 (50.5%) | 6 (50%) | 43 (50.6%) | |
| Target therapy/ormonotherapy | 21 (21.7%) | 4 (33.3%) | 17 (20%) | |
| CKD, n (%) | 1 (1%) | 0 | 1 (1.2%) | 1 |
| COPD, n (%) | 17 (17.5%) | 1 (8.3%) | 16 (18.8%) | 0.686 |
| Diabetes mellitus type 2, n (%) | 19 (19.6%) | 6 (50%) | 13 (15.3%) | 0.014 |
| Hypertension, n (%) | 22 (22.7%) | 3 (35%) | 19 (22.4%) | 1 |
| Ischemic heart disease, n (%) | 2 (2.1%) | 0 | 2 (2.4%) | 1 |
| Obesity, n (%) | 7 (7.2%) | 3 (25%) | 4 (4.7%) | 0.039 |
| Vaccination doses, n (%) | 0.847 | |||
| 0 | 3 (3.1%) | 0 | 3 (3.5%) | |
| 1 | 1 (1%) | 0 | 1 (1.2%) | |
| 2 | 3 (3.1%) | 0 | 3 (3.5%) | |
| 3 | 81 (83.5%) | 12 (100%) | 69 (81.2%) | |
| 4 | 9 (9.3%) | 0 | 9 (10.6%) | |
| Time between vaccination dose and positivity [months], median (IQR) | 7 (4) | 7 (3) | 7 (4) | 0.991 |
| Type of early therapies, n (%) | 0.443 | |||
| No treatment | 25 (25.8%) | 4 (33.3%) | 21 (24.7%) | |
| Sotrovimab | 2 (2%) | 0 | 2 (2.3%) | |
| Molnupinavir | 15 (15.5%) | 0 | 15 (17.7%) | |
| Remdesivir | 6 (6.2%) | 1 (8.3%) | 5 (5.9%) | |
| Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir | 49 (50.5%) | 7 (58.4%) | 42 (49.4%) | |
| Symptoms’ duration [days], median (IQR) | 5 (3) | 6 (3) | 5 (3) | 0.212 |
| First negative post-therapy swab [days], median (IQR) | 7 (1) | 7 (7) | 7 (0) | 0.124 |
Legend: IQR: interquartile range, ICIs: immune-checkpoints inhibitors, CKD: chronic kidney disease, COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. p values are reported in bold if significant. ** Type of chemotherapy: cisplatin and gemcitabine, FOLFOX, FOLFIRI, gemcitabine and Nab-paclitaxel, eribulin, docetaxel, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide, carboplatin and pemetrexed, gemcitabine, trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1), pemetrexed.